Safety Glass
by Jade II
Summary: Terrorists have taken control of CTU. Tony and Michelle try to win it back. Endofseason4ish.
1. Part I

"Any thoughts on how we're gonna get out of this?" Tony asked in a low voice. 

"Probably in body bags," Michelle answered dully. 

They were sitting on the edge of her desk, packed into her office with all the rest of the remaining CTU staff, and looking down at the terrorists who had overrun their place of work. They both knew that they were unlikely to make it out of there alive if they didn't do something; their access codes for anything remotely interesting to the terrorists had automatically been rendered invalid when the alarm had been raised, and their usefulness as hostages was limited at best considering what was at stake. The only people who might be remotely valuable were the computer techs; the ones the terrorists thought might be able to help them hack through the lock-down of the computer system. 

Like they were trying to get Chloe to do right now. 

They watched her apprehensively through the wall. Usually the fact that it was made of glass made the office seem less separate from the floor, more a part of whatever was going on. Today it had the opposite effect. All that was between them was a thin sheet of glass, and yet there was absolutely nothing that they could do to influence what was happening. Nothing they could do to help. 

Michelle shook herself out of her reverie. She couldn't just give up. Not here. 

"There is one thing we could try," she said to Tony quietly. 

"Mmm-hmm?" His eyes were still fixed on Chloe, on the floor, _arguing_ with the man who was holding a gun on her. 

_Oh, Chloe..._

"We're at a strategic disadvantage right now, with all our people boxed up in here with only one entrance. If we had someone on the floor who was armed, we might stand a chance." 

"Maybe, but how would we do that?" 

"I'm going to volunteer to help them get to the information they want. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, I'll grab a weapon." 

Tony turned to look at her, wide-eyed. "No, Michelle, it's too dangerous." 

"I know, but it's _more_ dangerous to just sit around waiting for them to kill us!" 

"We don't know that that's gonna happen." 

Michelle's expression softened. "We do, Tony, you know we do. The government isn't going to give in to their demands. They're probably planning to drop a bomb on us or something." 

"I know." Tony sighed. "But look... let me do it instead." 

She shook her head. "I appreciate the offer, Tony, but they know you don't officially work here. They may not believe you if you say you can help them." She lowered her voice further. "And I'm not sure how much I can trust anybody else. It has to be me." 

He nodded reluctantly. "Alright." He scratched his neck. "What do you want me to do?" 

"As soon as I have the gun, create a distraction up here. And make sure to take out the guard." 

"What kind of distraction?" 

Michelle's eyes once again focussed on Chloe. "Break the glass." 

Tony nodded silently. They both gazed down at the floor. 

Finally Tony cleared his throat. Glancing at the office full of people, sitting, standing, pacing nervously, but none of whom seemed to be paying that much attention to the two of them, he leaned in closer. "Look, Michelle, I can't let you do this without, uh..." He trailed off, scratching his neck again. 

She looked up at him. "Without what?" she asked softly. 

A small, half-shrug. "Without apologizing for what I've put you through. I'm sorry I let things get so bad." 

"No, Tony..." She shook her head. "That wasn't just you. I don't need for you to apologize. I just need you to know that... that I still love you, and if we survive this... it would be nice to get some coffee together or something." 

Tony smiled. "C'mere," he said, reaching out to pull her closer. He grinned at her smile when she snaked an arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. "We sure do pick our moments, huh?" 

He felt her smile. He couldn't remember the last time that had happened. 

"It does seem like if there's going to be a defining moment in our relationship there has to be chaos reigning around us," Michelle agreed. "I used to think that if we ever had a baby it would probably find some way of being born on your desk up here." 

They shared a quiet chuckle and fell silent. Eventually Michelle pulled away and looked at him. She opened her mouth to say something, but then seemed to change her mind. 

Then she shrugged. "Oh, what the hell..." 

And she kissed him. 

He responded eagerly, trying to forget that this was only happening because they were probably about to die, purposely disregarding the fact that everybody was sure to be looking at them now. 

Then Michelle broke the kiss and stood up. 

She glanced back at him only briefly before starting for the door, and the guard the terrorists had positioned there. 

Tony grabbed her wrist. "Michelle..." 

She looked back. 

He met her eyes and suddenly felt tears stinging the backs of his. "I love you too." 

He let go. 

He saw Michelle being lead to the center of the floor, where Chloe was still doing something to one of the computers. 

He got to his feet, stood behind the desk. Motioned for people to stand beside him, for others to begin closing in on the guard. 

Michelle snatched a gun from the nearest man, pushed Chloe to the floor, began shooting. 

Then they pushed the desk through the wall. 

Tony jumped out after it, rolled on it to break his fall, ignoring the glass which would surely be embedded in his back, and dropped down behind it. 

Just in time to see Michelle get shot. 

He couldn't tell where she was hit because one of the terrorists was standing between them, but he was sure he saw blood. 

And then he had to look away because there was a guy coming at him with a gun. 

He slid under the desk just as the man opened fire and looked around hurriedly for something to use as a weapon. There was broken glass everywhere; a large shard was right by his hand so he picked it up, stole a peek at his attacker and threw it like a frisbee. 

It hit him in the neck and he dropped the gun instantly, pawing at his wound and coughing up blood. 

Tony rushed him, grabbed the gun, stood up and shot the two terrorists in his field of vision, then crouched down and surveyed the rest of the office-turned-battleground. 

It actually seemed like they were winning. 

But he couldn't see Michelle. Looking over to where she had been standing, he could only see something which would usually have caused him to stop and stare: Chloe O'Brien, wielding a gun like she belonged in field ops. 

As it was, he just allowed himself a mental "_Huh..._" before turning around and taking out another hostile. 

A few more shots from himself, Chloe, and the few other agents who had managed to procure weapons, and the terrorists were all down. 

Tony ran over to the desk where he had last seen Michelle. 

He found her huddled underneath it, tying a tie she had to have taken off one of the terrorists into a makeshift pressure bandage around her leg. 

She'd been shot just below the knee. Tony couldn't help but laugh with relief. 

"Sumfig fungy?" Michelle asked, pulling one end of the tie with her teeth. 

He grinned. "No, not really, it's just... terrorists have lousy aim." 

She rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Pull this?" she asked, handing him the other end. 

"Sure." He helped her tie the knot securely and helped her up. "You okay?" he asked softly. 

"Apart from having a hole in my leg... yeah, pretty good." 

Tony smiled. "C'mon, let's get you to a hospital."   



	2. Part II

"Here ya go," Tony said, handing Michelle a glass of iced tea. He climbed back onto the bed next to her and picked up his book. 

"Thanks." She sipped it gratefully, then looked at him. "You're not bored, are you?" 

"Why would I be bored?" 

"Because I've spent most of my time since I got out of hospital lying around reading beauty magazines and watching Desperate Housewives. It can't be very exciting for you." 

"Well, I'm not really looking for excitement right now. I think I've had enough of that to last me a long time." He looked up, a sudden vulnerability hiding in his eyes. "Unless you want me to leave?" 

"No! No, that's not what I meant. I really appreciate you spending so much time here, helping me out. Especially the cooking." She grinned. "You have _no_ idea how much I've missed that." 

"Well no, but I think I can hazard a guess from the state of you refrigerator. Is there _anything_ in there that isn't meant to be just thrown in the microwave?" 

"Of course there is!" 

"Oh yeah? Like what?" he challenged. 

"Yogurt." She gave him a 'so there' look and stuck out her tongue. 

Tony laughed and shook his head. "Fine, you win." 

"Is there a prize?" She grinned. 

"What kind of prize do you want?" 

"A million dollars would be good." 

"Yeah, I don't think I can do that." 

"Will you watch a really girly movie with me?" 

Tony sighed in exaggerated defeat and nodded, smiling. "Yeah." 

Michelle smiled. "Thank you." 

"But first..." Tony looked at his watch. "We need to change your dressing." 

Michelle made a face. 

Tony laughed before getting up and heading for the bathroom in search of clean bandages. 

Michelle rolled onto her side and watched him leave. 

It was so strange having him here with her. It was wonderful, really, but at the same time she was terrified that his new-found old self couldn't possibly last, that everything was going to come crashing down and bury them again, for good. That as soon as her leg was healed he would loose what he seemed to think of as his purpose at the moment and get lost himself again. She didn't know what she would do if she had to go through that a second time. 

Tony reappeared, armed with a plethora of medicinal products, which he placed on the bed before climbing back on top of it himself. He smiled at her impishly, and she smiled back. 

"Okay! One leg, please." 

Michelle obediently shifted her position and pulled her blue cotton dress up above the knee to give him access. She watched him carefully untie the bandage and loosen the tape on the current dressing before snapping on a pair of the sterile gloves she had been given by the hospital. 

"Alright..." Tony said. Michelle looked away and reached up to hold onto her pillow. For some reason it seemed to hurt less if she couldn't see what he was doing. 

He removed the dressing as gently as possible, but the painkillers had worn off and it was too soon to take more. She gripped the pillow harder. 

Tony tossed the dressing in the special disposal bag and surveyed her injury. "I think it needs cleaning," he said apologetically. 

Michelle sighed, but she knew it had to be done. "Okay." She nodded. 

Tony leaned down to kiss her bare ankle, then reached for the sterile applicator and began to clean the wound. 

Even such a small amount of pressure was enough to make Michelle close her eyes in pain. She felt Tony squeeze her thigh comfortingly and she burrowed her face into the pillow. 

"So which movie do you wanna watch?" Tony asked, obviously trying to distract her. 

"Something Disney. I dunno, Cinderella or something." 

"Ah, I should've guessed." Michelle heard him chuckle and couldn't help but smile to herself. "That's the one with the tiny squeaky mice, right?" he said. 

"Yes," she said, grinning. "And, you know, the fairy godmother and the glass slippers and Prince Charming..." 

"Yeah, but that's _girly _stuff." 

Michelle knew he would be making a face when he said this and she had to open her eyes and see it. He saw her looking at him and caught her eye as he finished cleaning her leg. 

"Hey," he said softly, throwing the applicator in the bag with the old dressing. "Worst part's over." 

She smiled again, relaxing into the pillow as he applied the new dressing and then went to clean up. 

She closed her eyes, waiting for him to return. 

And she knew with absolute certainty that he _would_ return, she suddenly realized. It wasn't like all those seemingly so similar times when she had lain in bed, unable to sleep or do anything else but wait, and not knowing how much longer the wait would last, if it would be decades or mere weeks... It would be minutes, and then he would be holding her in his arms with no desire to let go. 

If she wanted him, he would be there. 

And she already knew that she wanted him forever, so he would be there, forever, as long as he knew he was wanted. 

He re-entered the room as if on cue and settled down next to her, pulling her into his arms without a second thought. 

"What are you smiling at?" he asked. He stroked her hair, smiling himself. 

"At how much I love you." 

Tony's grin widened. 

Michelle reached up to touch his face. "Let's never be apart again?" she said quietly. 

His smile grew softer again. "I like that plan." 

They reached out for one another, searching for more physical intimacy to reaffirm the significance of the moment. Tony gently pushed her onto her back and climbed on top of her. 

"Watch the leg," she reminded playfully. 

He bent down and kissed her thigh. "I'll keep my eye on it." 

And she smiled and pulled him closer. 

**The End**


End file.
